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| Keith Berg: Lead guitar, vocals |
| Bob Cryder: Bass, vocals |
| Scott Fenner: Organ, vocals |
| Gary Mickle: Drums, vocals |
| Ron Mickle: Rhythm guitar, vocals |
| Date formed: Fall 1966 |
| Date disbanded: Summer 1969 |
As far as the name goes there is no real story that is remembered behind it’s origin. The spelling alteration was typical for the time what with the Byrds, Beatles and Cyrkle exhibiting the same sort of thing in their names. After all, the name groups were the influences for these local groups. The local bands tended to adopt what they observed.
Bob had a Fender Precision bass finished in blue. For amplification he was using an Ampeg BT-15C amp. This was the cool flip top amp Ampeg made at the time.
Scott had a Farfisa combo organ, perhaps a Mini Compact. It is not remembered what he used for an amp.
Gary had the standard kit for the day more than likely. Although the brand is not remembered, his set had kick, snare, rack tom, floor tom along with a shell mounted ride cymbal and hi-hat.
Ron–or Red as he was known by the other members–was playing a Fender lookalike guitar, perhaps a Kent or Teisco. He eventually purchased a Fender Stratocaster before the band disbanded. He was playing through a Vox amp. This could have been a Pacemaker or perhaps a Cambridge Reverb model.
The PA the band used was one of the custom built ones that Sounds Inc. was putting together for local groups at the time. Bob Graybill–the store’s owner–and one of the salesmen–Bud Harper–built the speaker columns. They had four Jensen Concert series 12 in. speakers in them and came in two grille cloth colors–orange/red and green/blue. Keith remembers having two columns, but is unsure if they purchased the amp for the PA from Sounds as well. If they did it would have been a Bogen amp with at least 4 microphone inputs and 50 watt or higher output.
The group used homemade light columns, as did many other bands at the time. To compliment that, the Tymes also had a black light that they used. Later on, they rented or borrowed a strobe light for some of their last jobs before the band broke up.
The Tymes did most of the hits of the day along with popular album cuts that many local bands all seemed to do. It was not uncommon for members of other groups to be at dances to “check on the competition”. If a particular song got a good reaction many times another band would learn it too. Songs like “Twist & Shout”/Beatles–Isley Bros., “Wipe Out”/Sufaris, “(In the) Midnight Hour”/Wilson Pickett and “Come On Up”/the Young Rascals are some examples of these type of songs. Beside these the Tymes did things like “Judy In Disguise”/John Fred & his Playboy Band, “96 Tears”/? & the Mysterians, “Good Lovin’”/Rascals and “(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction”/Rolling Stones. They did have at least one original song entitled “Roses Are Red”. Gary and Ron were the ones who came up with the tune.
One of the more unfortunate experiences the band had–at least from Keith’s perspective–was a dance they played at the Ogden City Hall. Someone new was helping the band load in their equipment and get set up. This person got out Keith’s guitar, put the strap on it and hung it from one of the speaker columns. When his back was turned the strap let loose and the guitar crashed to the floor breaking the head clean off the neck rendering the guitar unplayable. This occurred with less than an hour to go before the dance was to start. It happened that Ron Carlson was hanging around City Hall as the band was loading in and was able to help Keith out. Ron played guitar–had taken a few lessons from Keith in fact–and was asked if Keith could borrow his guitar for the evening. Ron rode his bike home and quickly returned, guitar in hand. Aside from the fact the guitar was of a lesser quality than Keith’s Epiphone, Ron’s Kent guitar allowed the dance to go on.
Up until this time most school dances were sock hops with records being used for music. Bands only played at schools for special occasions like proms and then the bands were usually dance bands playing everything BUT rock music. By 1965 or ’66 the local groups–influenced by the popular groups of the day–were starting to play for dances. The first of these bands became very popular due to the fact that it was a new experience for the kids. Finally they were able to dance to bands playing the popular hits of the day in the same style that they were familiar with from the records they owned. For the Ogden area the Tymes were THE band. They were hugely popular not only because they were one of the first bands in the area, but they played well and put on a good show too.
The Tymes did have a sort of uniform when they played for dances. White uncut corduroy pants, nice dark colored shirt and suede Beatle boots with a choke chain draped around one of the shoes made up their outfits. They also had a manager for a time, but even though he helped get playing jobs for them there was a problem with the accounting end of things and he was fired.
Keith is still in the Ogden area and works as a financial planner. This was his last formal band. He plays for his own enjoyment now. Every once in awhile he sits in with a band when the opportunity arises.
Bob went on to play with a very short lived band whose members were Jim Belluci/drums, Les Meadows/vocals, Dave Runyan/lead guitar and himself on bass. They had about 3 practices before playing–and winning–the 1970 Boone High talent show. Jim Belluci was killed in a small plane accident along with Bob Graybill, owner of Sounds Inc., in 1971. Bob Cryder currently lives in Boone and was the assistant manager at the Imperial Lanes bowling alley prior to it's demise.
Scott lives in the Des Moines area and had an irrigation business. It is thought that he was in one other area band, but did not continue on after that. Gary currently works as an air traffic controller in Colorado. Ron is also working in the airline industry and lives in Kansas City. As far as is known neither Gary nor Ron were involved in music after this band.
